Danish authorities confirm seals victim of deadly distemper virus

Jun 24, 2007, 16:27 GMT

Copenhagen - Authorities in Denmark's Veterinary Medicine Institute on Sunday confirmed that dead seal pups washed ashore on the island of Anholt had fallen victim to the same viral strain of distemper which has twice decimated the seal population of the North and Baltic Seas in the past 20 years.

Some 48 dead common seal pups have washed ashore in recent days on the island, located in Kattegat, the Baltic Sea strait between Denmark and Sweden. Seven new bodies were found on Sunday alone.

Around half of the region's common seal population was killed by a previous outbreak in 1998, while in 2002 some 60 per cent fell victim.

Despite the alarming prognosis Danish experts expressed optimism that the latest outbreak could be contained.

'Our feeling here is that it looks better (than in 2002),' said Morten Abildstrm of the Environmental Protection Authority on Anholt.

'So far we have only found young animals, one or two years old,' he added, indicating that older seals may have developed stronger immunity to the virus since the last outbreak.

In 1998 and 2002 the epidemic spread from Anholt across northern Europe including to Dutch and German coastal mud flats. Experts were subsequently however surprised at how quickly the common seal population recovered.

According to the Danish Institute for Environmental Research the disease may be spread by grey seals, who also live on Anholt but who are not susceptible to the virus. Other carriers may however be foxes or mink.

Researchers have as yet been unable to ascertain the exact cause of the 1998 or 2002 epidemics.